BILL NUMBER: AB 739	CHAPTERED  08/26/99

	CHAPTER   236
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   AUGUST 26, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   AUGUST 25, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 16, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   JULY 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 28, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 20, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Pescetti
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Alquist, Bates, Battin, Cunneen,
Kuehl, Leach, Margett, Oller, Soto, and Strickland)
   (Coauthors:  Senators Ortiz and Rainey)

                        FEBRUARY 24, 1999

   An act to amend Section 15630 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to elder and dependent adult abuse.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 739, Pescetti.  Elder abuse:  reporting requirements.
   Existing law provides for the reporting of actual or suspected
physical or other abuse, as defined, of an elder or dependent adult
by specified persons and entities and imposes various requirements on
state and local agencies in processing, investigating, and reporting
on these reports.  Violation of those provisions is a misdemeanor.
   Existing law also provides that a mandated reporter is not
required to report a suspected instance of abuse of an elder or
dependent adult in specified circumstances.
   This bill would limit that exemption from mandatory reporting
requirements to a physician and surgeon, a registered nurse, or a
psychotherapist and would revise the circumstances in which the
mandated reports is not required to report an instance of abuse.
   Because this bill would expand the definition of a crime and would
increase the reporting duties of local officials, it would impose a
state-mandated local program.
  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state.  Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund
to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide
and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed
$1,000,000.
   This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no
reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
   With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that,
if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains
costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall
be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 15630 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   15630.  (a) Any person who has assumed full or intermittent
responsibility for care or custody of an elder or dependent adult,
whether or not that person receives compensation, including
administrators, supervisors, and any licensed staff of a public or
private facility that provides care or services for elder or
dependent adults, or any elder or dependent adult care custodian,
health practitioner, or employee of a county adult protective
services agency or a local law enforcement agency is a mandated
reporter.
   (b) (1) Any mandated reporter, who, in his or her professional
capacity, or within the scope of his or her employment, has observed
or has knowledge of an incident that reasonably appears to be
physical abuse, abandonment, isolation, financial abuse, or neglect,
or is told by an elder or dependent adult that he or she has
experienced behavior constituting physical abuse, abandonment,
isolation, financial abuse, or neglect, or reasonably suspects that
abuse shall report the known or suspected instance of abuse by
telephone immediately or as soon as practically possible, and by
written report sent within two working days, as follows:
   (A) If the abuse has occurred in a long-term care facility, except
a state mental health hospital or a state developmental center, the
report shall be made to the local ombudsman or the local law
enforcement agency.
   Except in an emergency, the local ombudsman and the local law
enforcement agency shall report any case of known or suspected abuse
to the State Department of Health Services and any case of known or
suspected criminal activity to the Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud, as soon
as is practical.
   (B) If the suspected or alleged abuse occurred in a state mental
health hospital or a state developmental center, the report shall be
made to designated investigators of the State Department of Mental
Health or the State Department of Developmental Services or to the
local law enforcement agency.
   Except in an emergency, the local law enforcement agency shall
report any case of known or suspected criminal activity to the Bureau
of Medi-Cal Fraud, as soon as is practical.
   (C) If the abuse has occurred any place other than one described
in subparagraph (A), the report shall be made to the adult protective
services agency or the local law enforcement agency.
   (2) (A) A mandated reporter who is a physician and surgeon, a
registered nurse, or a psychotherapist, as defined in Section 1010 of
the Evidence Code, shall not be required to report, pursuant to
paragraph (1), an incident where all of the following conditions
exist:
   (i) The mandated reporter has been told by an elder or dependent
adult that he or she has experienced behavior constituting physical
abuse, abandonment, isolation, financial abuse, or neglect.
   (ii) The mandated reporter is not aware of any independent
evidence that corroborates the statement that the abuse has occurred.

   (iii) The elder or dependent adult has been diagnosed with a
mental illness or dementia, or is the subject of a court-ordered
conservatorship because of a mental illness or dementia.
   (iv) In the exercise of clinical judgment, the physician and
surgeon, the registered nurse, or the psychotherapist, as defined in
Section 1010 of the Evidence Code, reasonably believes that the abuse
did not occur.
   (B) This paragraph shall not be construed to impose upon mandated
reporters a duty to investigate a known or suspected incident of
abuse and shall not be construed to lessen or restrict any existing
duty of mandated reporters.
   (3) (A) In a long-term care facility, a mandated reporter shall
not be required to report as a suspected incident of abuse, as
defined in Section 15610.07, an incident where all of the following
conditions exist:
   (i) The mandated reporter is aware that there is a proper plan of
care.
   (ii) The mandated reporter is aware that the plan of care was
properly provided or executed.
   (iii) A physical, mental, or medical injury occurred as a result
of care provided pursuant to clause (i) or (ii).
   (iv) The mandated reporter reasonably believes that the injury was
not the result of abuse.
   (B) This paragraph shall not be construed to require a mandated
reporter to seek, nor to preclude a mandated reporter from seeking,
information regarding a known or suspected incident of abuse prior to
reporting.  This paragraph shall apply only to those categories of
mandated reporters that the State Department of Health Services
determines, upon approval by the Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and the
state long-term care ombudsman, have access to plans of care and have
the training and experience necessary to determine whether the
conditions specified in this section have been met.
   (c) (1) Any mandated reporter who has knowledge of, or reasonably
suspects that, types of elder or dependent adult abuse for which
reports are not mandated have been inflicted upon an elder or
dependent adult or that his or her emotional well-being is endangered
in any other way, may report the known or suspected instance of
abuse.
   (2) If the suspected or alleged abuse occurred in a long-term care
facility other than a state mental health hospital or a state
developmental center, the report may be made to the long-term care
ombudsman program.  Except in an emergency, the local ombudsman shall
report any case of known or suspected abuse to the State Department
of Health Services and any case of known or suspected criminal
activity to the Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud, as soon as is practical.
   (3) If the suspected or alleged abuse occurred in a state mental
health hospital or a state developmental center, the report may be
made to the designated investigator of the State Department of Mental
Health or the State Department of Developmental Services, or to a
local law enforcement agency or to the local ombudsman.  Except in an
emergency, the local ombudsman and the local law enforcement agency
shall report any case of known or suspected criminal activity to the
Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud, as soon as is practical.
   (4) If the suspected or alleged abuse occurred in a place other
than a place described in paragraph (2) or (3), the report may be
made to the county adult protective services agency.
   (5) If the conduct involves criminal activity not covered in
subdivision (b), it may be immediately reported to the appropriate
law enforcement agency.
   (d) When two or more mandated reporters are present and jointly
have knowledge or reasonably suspect that types of abuse of an elder
or a dependent adult for which a report is or is not mandated have
occurred, and when there is agreement among them, the telephone
report may be made by a member of the team selected by mutual
agreement, and a single report may be made and signed by the selected
member of the reporting team.  Any member who has knowledge that the
member designated to report has failed to do so shall thereafter
make the report.
   (e) A telephone report of a known or suspected instance of elder
or dependent adult abuse shall include the name of the person making
the report, the name and age of the elder or dependent adult, the
present location of the elder or dependent adult, the names and
addresses of family members or any other person responsible for the
elder or dependent adult's care, if known, the nature and extent of
the elder or dependent adult's condition, the date of the incident,
and any other information, including information that led that person
to suspect elder or dependent adult abuse, requested by the agency
receiving the report.
   (f) The reporting duties under this section are individual, and no
supervisor or administrator shall impede or inhibit the reporting
duties, and no person making the report shall be subject to any
sanction for making the report.  However, internal procedures to
facilitate reporting, ensure confidentiality, and apprise supervisors
and administrators of reports may be established, provided they are
not inconsistent with this chapter.
   (g) (1) Whenever this section requires a county adult protective
services agency to report to a law enforcement agency, the law
enforcement agency shall, immediately upon request, provide a copy of
its investigative report concerning the reported matter to that
county adult protective services agency.
   (2) Whenever this section requires a law enforcement agency to
report to a county adult protective services agency, the county adult
protective services agency shall, immediately upon request, provide
a copy of its investigative report concerning the reported matter to
that law enforcement agency.
   (3) The requirement to disclose investigative reports pursuant to
this subdivision shall not include the disclosure of social services
records or case files that are confidential, nor shall this
subdivision be construed to allow disclosure of any reports or
records if the disclosure would be prohibited by any other provision
of state or federal law.
   (h) Failure to report physical abuse, abandonment, isolation,
financial abuse, or neglect of an elder or dependent adult, in
violation of this section, is a misdemeanor, punishable by not more
that six months in the county jail or by a fine of not more than one
thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.
Any mandated reporter who willfully fails to report physical abuse,
abandonment, isolation, financial abuse, or neglect of an elder or
dependent adult, in violation of this section, where that abuse
results in death or great bodily injury, is punishable by not more
than one year in a county jail or by a fine of not more than five
thousand dollars ($5,000) or by both that fine and imprisonment.
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution for certain
costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district
because in that regard this act creates a new crime or infraction,
eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime
or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government
Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
   However, notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government Code, if
the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains
other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies
and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7
(commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.  If the statewide cost of the claim for
reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000),
reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.
